In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

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Teaming Methods

Teaming Methods

Learn and practice team engagement strategies that build a foundation of trust for more meaningful and productive collaboration.

“
I learned so much and felt like every week I applied something new to my team meetings, and real life too.
—Former Student

Objective & Outcomes

Most work we do these days is in teams. Yet we often find ourselves thrown together without a lot of guidance around ways to organize, collaborate and create successful outcomes. In this course, you will learn teaming methods and best practices by working on several teams. Through research and collaborative activities, teams will arrive at learnings that will inform their best practice playbooks.

At the conclusion of this course you will: 

  • Understand high performance team behaviors and how to leverage them
  • Form teams with a clear vision and purpose
  • Practice skills that enhance team collaboration: conflict resolution, meeting management, active listening and more
  • Use tools and frameworks that help teams navigate challenges

Typical Schedule

  • Session 1: Your Teaming Experience: Behaviors, mindsets & practices
  • Session 2: Team Formation: Goals, Roles & accountability
  • Session 3: What the Experts Say & Do: Energy, engagement & exploration
  • Session 4: Skills: Build safety, give feedback & manage conflict
  • Session 5: Productive Meeting Design: Theory & practice
  • Session 6: Teaming Tales: Guest speakers from different fields share their “lessons learned the hard way”
  • Session 7: Personal Reflections & Best Practice Playbooks

See all MDes Courses